Did some players put their hands up for selection for Coventry on Tuesday night?

"I thought it was a good performance against a very lively West Ham team. It is a competition that in the last two years we have come unstuck in against some very talented young players.

"It was nice to get the win, it was nice to get a clean sheet but we know there is a lot of work to do with this squad and we have got to make a lot of improvement so there is only a small satisfaction from winning that game.

"We have got to get the winning mentality back on a consistent basis. There has been a lot of things said, a lot of individual player meetings I have had, a lot of hard work on the training ground as always, and you just keep searching, searching for the answers; because for whatever reason the mentality we worked so hard to build in the last four and a half years has been missing.

"So it is about trying to get that back and look for the reasons we have not quite been at it.

"I hope Tuesday was the start."

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"For me you look at strikers, but we have got to win games, it doesn’t matter how you win them but you have got to win football matches. For me it is all about the mentality of winning football matches at whatever level you play.

"First you have to get your basic principles right by outworking the opposition, run further than the opposition, make more sprints than the opposition, out-play the opposition. When you do all those key things then the results take care of themselves, and we haven’t done that well enough on a consistent basis for the standards I set.

"We have got to adjust that and do it on a more regular basis.

"We know the league is tough, we know it is competitive, but we have got to do better.

"Certainly. Stuart Sinclair and Joe Partington are players that I call model professionals.

"They energise the other boys as well, not with their talking but the way they conduct themselves, the way they never stop running and working, that is what this football club has been built on since I have been manager.

"We have lost some of that and we need to get it back quickly and players coming back certainly helps that.

Do the players who have been at the club for a while have a role in passing on that?

"They do. It happens with a lot of new players who come into a club. It takes them a bit too long to settle in. We have to look at the reasons why but sometimes I think it comes as a surprise to the new players at what a well supported club we are, there is unbelievable pressure on the players.

"I have touched on it before. You should enjoy the pressures of football, I certainly do, albeit I would rather be winning, but I love being a manager and I love the pressure of trying to perform and building a team to win football matches and players have got to enjoy that and be better.

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A first home win against Coventry City would be a big psychological boost wouldn’t it?

“It certainly would because it only gets tougher and tougher. I touched on it earlier but if you get the principles right, outwork the opposition, outplay the opposition, make more chances than the opposition, then you will win more games.

"Every game is a must win game but Saturday is certainly a big game and I am not taking away from that fact because we want to get our season going.

"The Mem has been a tough place for opposition teams to play in recent years, you don’t want that to start slipping do you?

“Certain not. We want to get our mojo back, we want to get players back in form, we want to keep working on them and make sure they are primed and ready to go.

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Coventry have had a tough time but are their signs they are starting to get back to where they were aren't there?

“Certainly. Obviously they are a big club in the past and have played in the top division, certainly Mark Robins has gone in there and done a great job. They got relegated and they have come back up under Mark and have a steady start in League One.

"The positives for me are we are playing nowhere near the standards we set but no one is turning us over, and looking like turning us over, apart from Luton who I thought should have turned us over to be honest. I was very angry after that game.

"But other than that the games have been pretty close calls and we just need to be better.

"Coventry will be a tough test, as they all are, but we are looking forward to it.

"No one is putting their head in the sand, they know the pressure is on.

With the addition of Jack Bonham have you solved the problems at the back?

“Touch wood. I think there are just so many areas to improve, we could be speaking all day. But I would probably be saying that on a good run as well.

"I have been here for a long time and we have been on good runs and bad runs, there are always things to work on. We have certainly got plenty to work on, with the backline, up the top of the pitch and in our build-up play.

New Bristol Rovers signing Tareiq Holmes-Dennis (Image: Bristol Post)

What has kept Tareiq Holmes-Dennis out for so long? Did he have a set-back?

“He passed his medical no problem, but he had a slight setback in one of the training sessions, which can happen with a long term injury.

"It is obviously disappointing for the lad but his attitude has been absolutely spot on. I know it is frustrating for supporters, and frustrating for myself as I would obviously liked to have had him before this, but I think he will be a top player for the club.

"We had Lee Brown for many years and I think Tareiq will come in as soon as he gets over this minor problem and will be a top player for us and I am looking forward to him putting on the shirt.